VP Regulatory Affairs responsible for leading regulatory strategy, managing key regulator relationships and overseeing submissions, price controls and negotiations. The role supports revenue setting, investment planning, cost recovery and economic modelling, while leading a small team and acting as a senior interface with the Department of Energy and other stakeholders. Requires 12+ years in energy, utilities or economic regulation.

VP Regulatory Affairs

Location: Abu Dhabi
Working Pattern: 5 days per week in the Abu Dhabi office
Salary: Up to AED 70,000 per month, plus bonus, schooling allowance for up to three children and annual family air tickets
Reporting to: SVP, Regulation
Team: Approximately 3 to 4 direct and indirect reports Our client is seeking an experienced VP Regulatory Affairs to lead its Regulatory Affairs function in Abu Dhabi. This is a senior leadership position with responsibility for shaping regulatory strategy, managing relationships with key regulatory and government stakeholders, overseeing regulatory submissions and ensuring the business is positioned effectively within the UAE regulatory environment. The role will act as the central point of coordination for regulatory interactions and will play a major part in influencing regulatory outcomes that support the organisation's long term investment strategy, financial performance and licence obligations. This is not a traditional legal or compliance position. The successful candidate will need a strong understanding of the commercial, financial and economic principles underpinning regulated utilities, including price controls, revenue setting, cost recovery, investment planning and economic modelling.

Key Responsibilities

Regulatory Strategy and Leadership* Lead the development and execution of the organisation's Regulatory Affairs strategy, ensuring alignment with wider corporate and commercial objectives.* Translate regulatory strategy into clear priorities, programmes and deliverables across the organisation.* Advise senior leadership on regulatory developments, risks, opportunities and potential financial or commercial implications.* Lead the company's strategic positioning in relation to regulatory consultations, policy developments, price control processes and changes to the regulatory framework.* Provide senior level insight into how regulatory developments may affect revenue, investment requirements, operating performance and long term business planning.* Ensure regulatory considerations are embedded within key strategic and investment decisions. Regulator and Government Engagement* Act as one of the organisation's primary senior interfaces with the Department of Energy and other relevant regulatory bodies.* Develop and maintain strong, credible relationships with regulators, government entities, industry stakeholders and external advisors.* Lead formal regulatory discussions, consultations, submissions and negotiations.* Represent the organisation during senior level regulatory meetings and discussions.* Ensure communication with regulators is coordinated, accurate and consistent with the organisation's overall strategy and positioning.* Build constructive long term relationships that allow the company to communicate its investment requirements, operational priorities and commercial position effectively. Price Controls and Economic Regulation* Lead and support regulatory price control processes, including the development of regulatory submissions, supporting financial analysis and negotiations.* Work closely with Finance, Strategy and operational teams to determine appropriate revenue requirements and regulatory assumptions.* Provide regulatory input into revenue setting, business planning and long term investment decisions.* Support the development and assessment of cost recovery mechanisms and revenue assurance frameworks.* Analyse the financial impact of regulatory decisions and identify potential risks and opportunities.* Ensure regulatory frameworks and methodologies are understood and correctly applied throughout the organisation.* Challenge and review financial and economic assumptions used within regulatory submissions.* Work closely with relevant teams to understand capital expenditure programmes, operating expenditure, demand forecasts, financing assumptions and required investment returns. Regulatory Pricing and Economic Modelling* Lead or oversee financial, economic and scenario modelling required to support regulatory submissions and negotiations.* Assess the commercial and financial impact of alternative regulatory outcomes.* Support senior leadership with clear analysis regarding the impact of regulatory decisions on revenues, investment plans and company performance.* Ensure modelling and analysis is robust, defendable and aligned with regulatory requirements. The formal JD specifically identifies Regulatory Pricing, Economic and Scenario Modelling as an advanced technical capability required for the position. Regulatory Submissions* Oversee the preparation and submission of regulatory filings, returns, consultations and formal correspondence.* Ensure regulatory submissions are accurate, commercially robust and delivered within required timelines.* Lead the coordination of input from Finance, Strategy, Operations, Legal and other internal stakeholders.* Establish appropriate governance and quality control around regulatory submissions.* Maintain oversight of the regulatory submissions pipeline and ensure the business is appropriately prepared for upcoming regulatory requirements.* Ensure supporting evidence, analysis and documentation is comprehensive and capable of standing up to regulatory scrutiny. Financial and Commercial Impact* Work closely with senior Finance and Strategy stakeholders to understand the commercial implications of regulatory frameworks.* Provide regulatory guidance during annual and long term business planning.* Support investment decisions through detailed understanding of regulatory treatment, cost recovery and potential returns.* Assess how regulatory decisions could affect financial performance and provide recommendations to senior leadership.* Ensure appropriate alignment between regulatory strategy and the organisation's long term infrastructure investment programme.* Support the organisation in achieving appropriate regulatory outcomes while maintaining strong and constructive relationships with regulatory bodies. Investment Planning* Work closely with business and operational teams to understand future infrastructure and investment requirements.* Ensure proposed investment programmes are supported by appropriate regulatory rationale and economic analysis.* Help articulate the need for major capital investment to regulatory stakeholders.* Support senior management in communicating the relationship between investment, operational performance, service quality and regulatory outcomes.* Provide input into business cases and investment proposals where regulatory treatment may materially affect commercial viability. Regulatory Compliance and Governance* Maintain oversight of the organisation's regulatory obligations and ensure relevant requirements are understood across the business.* Ensure compliance with licence conditions and other regulatory obligations.* Maintain appropriate governance around regulatory correspondence, submissions and commitments.* Ensure regulatory records, supporting documentation and evidence are appropriately maintained.* Support regulatory audits and information requests and ensure the organisation remains audit ready.* Establish strong governance frameworks to ensure accountability for regulatory deliverables. Regulatory Operations* Lead coordination across internal functions to ensure accurate and timely regulatory input.* Establish effective processes for regulatory reporting, document management, data collection and submission preparation.* Ensure regulatory requests, audits and enquiries are responded to appropriately.* Continuously review regulatory processes and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, quality and governance. Senior Stakeholder Management* Develop trusted relationships with senior executives across Finance, Strategy, Operations, Legal, Engineering and other functions.* Present complex regulatory matters in a commercially relevant and accessible way.* Provide clear recommendations to senior leadership regarding regulatory strategy and potential outcomes.* Influence internal stakeholders to ensure regulatory priorities are understood and incorporated within decision making.* Balance the requirements of internal commercial stakeholders with those of regulators and external parties. Team Leadership* Lead and develop a Regulatory Affairs team consisting of approximately 3 to 4 professionals across Manager, Senior Associate and Associate levels.* Establish clear responsibilities and priorities across the team.* Coach and develop team members across regulatory analysis, submissions, stakeholder engagement and commercial understanding.* Build strong regulatory capability within the function and ensure appropriate succession and development planning.* Create a culture focused on accountability, quality, collaboration and continuous improvement.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will be an established regulatory leader with significant experience within a regulated energy, utilities or infrastructure environment. Candidates should ideally have at least 12 years of relevant professional experience within the energy or utilities sector and demonstrable experience managing senior relationships with regulators and industry stakeholders. The strongest candidates are likely to come from electricity, power, water, transmission, distribution or similarly regulated infrastructure environments.

Experience Required

* Minimum 12 years of relevant experience within energy, utilities, economic regulation, regulatory finance or a closely related field.* Strong understanding of regulated utility business models.* Significant exposure to economic regulation and regulatory strategy.* Experience dealing directly with regulators at a senior level.* Strong knowledge of price control processes, regulatory submissions and negotiations.* Experience working with revenue setting and cost recovery mechanisms.* Strong financial and commercial understanding.* Experience supporting major infrastructure investment programmes from a regulatory perspective.* Strong understanding of financial and economic modelling.* Experience managing complex regulatory submissions involving multiple internal stakeholders.* Proven experience leading and developing a professional team.* Experience communicating with senior executives and external government or regulatory stakeholders.

Preferred Sector Background

Particularly relevant backgrounds include:* Electricity transmission* Electricity distribution* Power generation* Water transmission and distribution* Utilities* Energy infrastructure* Regulated infrastructure* Economic regulation* Regulatory finance Candidates from adjacent infrastructure sectors may also be considered where they have substantial experience working within an economic regulation or regulated asset framework. The official JD specifically highlights familiarity with energy policy, infrastructure investment, electricity or water transmission planning and economic regulation as desirable.

Education

A Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Finance, Economics, Business Administration or another relevant discipline is required. A Master's degree or other relevant postgraduate qualification would be advantageous.

Technical Capabilities

The successful candidate should demonstrate strong capability across:* Regulatory strategy* Economic regulation* Regulatory finance* Regulatory pricing* Price controls* Revenue regulation* Cost recovery* Regulatory submissions and filings* Financial and economic modelling* Scenario modelling* Infrastructure investment* Regulatory governance* Regulatory compliance* Policy analysis* Stakeholder advocacy* Government and regulator engagement* Revenue assurance* Business planning* Strategic financial analysis The official specification identifies advanced capability across regulatory reporting and submissions, regulatory strategy and governance, regulatory pricing and economic modelling, stakeholder advocacy and policy analysis.

Leadership Profile

This position requires someone with significant seniority and credibility. The successful candidate should be comfortable challenging and advising senior leadership while also developing constructive relationships with regulators and government stakeholders. They should combine strong analytical ability with commercial judgement and excellent communication skills. The client is particularly interested in someone who understands that successful regulatory affairs within a utility is not simply about compliance. The individual must understand the relationship between regulation, revenue, investment, financial performance and long term business strategy. They should therefore be:* Strategic and commercially minded* Financially literate* Highly analytical* Comfortable operating with ambiguity* Credible with senior executives* Confident dealing with regulators* Strong at negotiation and influencing* Able to translate complex technical issues into clear commercial recommendations* Capable of leading and developing a team* Collaborative across functions* Comfortable taking ownership of significant and sensitive regulatory matters

Why This Opportunity

This is a senior and highly influential role within a major UAE utilities organisation, with direct exposure to senior leadership and key regulatory stakeholders. The individual will have the opportunity to shape regulatory strategy, influence major infrastructure investment decisions and play a central role in determining how the organisation approaches future regulatory frameworks and price controls. The position offers a package of up to AED 70,000 per month, alongside bonus, schooling support for up to three children and annual family air tickets. The requirement is urgent, and the client is prepared to move quickly with suitable candidates, including progressing strong profiles directly to panel interview.